Tour Report — The 145th Open Championship

This week, all eyes are on Royal Troon as the best golfers in the world face off in Scotland for the 145th playing of The Open Championship. Fresh off the heels of Dustin Johnson’s major redemption at Oakmont to win the U.S. Open, Team TaylorMade looks to take home another major this season.

In advance of the season’s third major championship, TaylorMade Tour players leaned on the talented hands of the Tour Truck staff to dial in their clubs to take on the links golf they will face at Royal Troon. As is expected at The Open, the forecast looks ominous heading into the weekend and is sure to force players to get creative and stay out of trouble as they battle to claim the Claret Jug.

Here are some key changes TaylorMade staffers made to gear up for Royal Troon and The 145th edition of The Open Championship.

Jason Day spent a good chunk of his Open Championship tune-up grinding on the range with Trackman, hitting every club in his bag to dial in exact carry yardages with the help of TaylorMade Tour Truck technicians. Jason also requested a new ATV lob wedge ground for more heel relief for perfect turf/sand interaction around Royal Troon.

Justin Rose did some fine-tuning with his M2 driver on the range, looking for more trajectory control to combat the inescapable winds of the Ayrshire Coast. Rose ultimately jumped up to an M2 9.5° degree from an 8.5°. The extra loft adds increased forgiveness and accuracy to help JR navigate the tight fairways of Royal Troon. He also introduced a UDI 15 ° 1-iron (Ultimate Driving Iron) to execute powerful, low-launching bullets to penetrate low and through the wind.

Darren Clarke arrived at Troon wanting to explore some M 5 woods, M Rescues, and PSi driving iron options. In effort to increase launch without adding spin, the 2016 European Ryder Cup captain found an M2 17° Rescue that best met his needs. With semi-thick rough and tight fairways setting up for bump and runs, the versatility of the M2 Rescue made it an easy decision to add into Clarke’s bag for Thursday.

Jon Rahm loves his M1 5 wood, but requested an M2 Tour 3-iron in an effort to combat the wind. Thursday defied the odds with a sunny and calm day, which helped Rahm’s M1 5 wood see some Open action. Don’t be surprised if one of the driving irons knock his beloved gamer out of his bag for Friday with the impending weather.

Seeing Rahm with an M2 Tour iron was a bit surprising. While M2 irons are designed to give everyday golfers more distance and height, its smaller, sleeker M2 Tour brother typically proves to be too much muscle for most TOUR pros. However, in addition to Rahm, Victor Dubuisson, Jordan Niebrugge, and a few others had M2 Tour 2 & 3 irons built to benefit from the big jumps in consistency and ball speed. Keep an eye out for M2 Tour irons in play later this week as we head into the heart of The Open Championship.

Download PDF

About TaylorMade Golf

About TaylorMade Golf Company

Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, TaylorMade Golf is a leading manufacturer of high performance golf equipment with industry-leading innovative products like M1 and M2 metalwoods, M1 and M2 irons and TP5/TP5X golf balls. TaylorMade is also a major force on the PGA TOUR with one of the strongest athlete portfolios in golf, that includes world no.1 Dustin Johnson and five of the current Top 15 in the world.